PHP assignment with a default value

Question

What's a nicer way to do the following, that doesn't call f() twice?

$x = f() ? f() : 'default';

Answer 1

In PHP 5.3, you can also do:

  $a = f() ?: 'default';

See the manual on ?: operator.

Answer 2

function f()
{
  // conditions 
  return $if_something ? $if_something : 'default';
}

$x = f();